Disposer for combustible and metal refuse



Aug. 13, 1968 J. K. BLATCHFORD 3,396,682

DISPOSER FOR COMBUSTIBLE AND METAL REFUSE 2 Sheets-Sheet -1 Filed Jan. 5, 1967 INVENTOR JOHN K. BLATCHFORD y did/ ATTORNEYS.

Aug. 13, 1 J. K. BLATCHFORD 3,396,682

DISPOSER FOR COMBUSTIBLE AND METAL REFUSE 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Jan. 5, 1967 m GE United States Patent 3,396,682 DISPOSER FOR COMBUSTBLE AND METAL REFUSE John K. Blatchford, St. Joseph, Mich., assignor to Whirlpool Corporation, a corporation of Delaware Filed Jan. 5, 1967, Ser. No. 607,528 9 Claims. (Cl. 11018) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE The disclosed structure comprises a disposer for combustible and metal refuse including means for incinerating a combustible portion of the refuse to cause the metal portion thereof to be substantially free of combustible material, means for decomposing the metal refuse, and means for delivering the metal refuse from the incinerating means to the decomposing means upon completion of the incineration of the combustible portion of the refuse.

This invention relates to refuse disposers and in particular to disposers for combustible and metal refuse.

In one conventional form of incinerator for incinerating refuse or waste such as household garbage, means are provided for causing substantially complete combustion of the combustible material of the refuse. For improved combustion, it is preferable that non-combustibles such as tin cans be excluded from the waste material delivered to the combustion chamber. The picking and sorting of the refuse to so separate the combustible materials from the non-combustible cans is often incompletely done or omitted, resulting in a clogging of the combustion chamber grate and necessitating undesirable additional maintenance of the incinerator.

The present invention comprehends an improved incinerator provided with means for effecting disposal not only of the combustible material in the refuse but also of the metal refuse such as cans, thereby substantially facilitating the use of the incinerator and providing improved disposal of the refuse. Thus, a principal feature of the present invention is the provision of a new and improved disposer for combustible and metal refuse.

Another feature of the invention is the provision of such a disposer including means for incinerating the combustible portion of the refuse to cause the metal portion to be free of combustible material and to deliver the metal refuse to a decomposing means upon completion of incineration of the combustible portion of the refuse.

Still another feature of the invention is the provision of such a disposer wherein the decomposing means comprises means for effecting electrolysis of the metal refuse.

A yet further feature of the invention is the provision of such a :disposer wherein the decomposing means comprises means for oxidizing the metal refuse.

A further feature of the invention is the provision of such a disposer including means for facilitated transfer of the metal refuse to the decomposing means upon completion of the incineration operation.

Another feature of the invention is the provision of such a disposer including means for storing quantities of chemicals for use in a plurality of decomposing operations.

Still a further feature of the invention is the prgvision of such a disposer including means for chemically decomposing the metal refuse.

Other features and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following description taken in connection with the accompanying drawing wherein:

FIGURE 1 is a fore and aft vertical section of a disposer embodying the invention;

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FIGURE 2 is a transverse vertical section taken substantially along the line 22 of FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 3 is a vertical section similar to that of FIGURE 1 but with the disposer as arranged upon completion of an incineration operation and the beginning of a metal refuse decomposing operation;

FIGURE 4 is a horizontal section taken substantially along the line 44 of FIGURE 2; and

FIGURE 5 is a schematic chart indicating the control operational sequence.

In the exemplary embodiment of the invention as disclosed in the drawing, a disposer generally designated is shown to comprise a cabinet 11 having a front opening 12 selectively closed by a door 13. The interior of the cabinet is divided by a transverse wall 14 to define a forward combustion chamber 15 and a rearward space 16. Refuse R which may include both combustible material P such as paper and combustible garbage, and noncombustible cans M is introduced into the combustion chamber 15 through the opening 12 and is supported therein by a grate 17 extending across the lower portion of the combustion chamber and pivotally hinged to the wall 14 by a suitable hinge means 18 at the lower end of an opening 19 in the wall 14. The forward end of the grate may be suitably supported in the horizontal position by a bracket 20 carried on the front wall 21 of the cabinet. Subjacent the grate 17 is a burner 22 of conventional construction adapted to utilize a suitable fuel such as gas or oil to effect incineration of the combustible material in the refuse R in the combustion chamber 15. Combustion air may be admitted to the combustion chamber through a grill 23 in the cabinet front wall 21 permitting air to flow upwardly past the burner 22 and through the grate 17 to the refuse R. The products of combustion may be discharged upwardly through a suitable flue 24 and, as best seen in FIGURE 2, a blower 25 may be provided for venting space 16 and providing a forced draft of the combustion air through chamber 15.

Ashes of the combustible refuse may be collected in an ash drawer 26 disposed at the bottom of space 15 below the burner 22. The drawer is removable forwardly through a suitable opening 27 in the front wall 21 for periodic dumping of the ashes as desired. As shown in FIGURE 1, the ash drawer 26 may be supported on a bottom wall 28 of the cabinet 11, and the cabinet may be provided with suitable adjustable legs 29 for supporting the disposer on the floor F.

In the lower portion of rear space 16 below the level of the grate 17 as shown in FIGURE 1, is provided an upwardly opening tank 30 having side walls 31 and a bottom wall 32. Overlying the bottom wall 32 is a cathode structure 33, and spaced slightly above the cathode structure is a dished plastic screen support 34. A pump 35 driven by a suitable electric motor 36 circulates a decomposing solution S from the tank 30 through an outlet conduit 37, and to the tank 30 through a conduit 38, a valve 39, and a conduit 40. The valve 39 is connected to a drain conduit 41 and includes a movable valve member 42 selectively blocking the conduit or the conduit 41. Water is delivered into the tank from a supply conduit 43 having a suitable solenoid operated control valve 44. The solution S may be formed in tank 30 by adding to water delivered from supply 43 a desired quantity of concentrate C stored in a tank 45 at the top of space 16. The tank may be refilled through a suitable supply pipe 46 and the concentrate may be delivered into the tank 30 through a downwardly extending conduit 47 provided with a suitable solenoid control valve 48.

Tank 30 is further provided in its upper portion with an anode 49. The cathode 33 and anode 49, as shown in FIGURE 2, are connected to a suitable source of direct 3 current such as converter 50 carried on the right side wall 51 of the cabinet 11. Air may be delivered through the solution S from an air supply conduit 52 through a suitable solenoid operated valve 53 to a plurality of inlet conduits 54 extending upwardly through the bottom wall '32 of the tank.

The opening 19 in the divider wall 14 is selectively closed by a door 55 pivotally mounted on the wall 14 on a hinge 56 at the top of opening 19. An electric motor 57 mounted on the rear wall 14 adjacent right side wall 51 is provided with a pulley 58 connected through a cable 59 to an arm 60 on the door 55 and an extension 61 on the grate 17 so that when the pulley 58 is rotated by the motor 57 in a clockwise direction as shown in FIGURE 3, door 55 is pivoted in a clockwise direction on the hinge 56 and grate 17 is pivoted in a counterclockwise direction on the hinge 18 thereby to tilt the grate upwardly and cause the metal refuse M of refuse R to fall downwardly from the grate through the opening 19 into the bath S in the tank 30.

The operation of the disposer may be best understood by reference to the operational sequence schematic of FIGURE 5. The operation of the disposer may be regulated by a suitable control 62 comprising a motor driven timed switch control of conventional construction. The control may be manually operated by a suitable knob 63. The control may be suitably energized through a connector 64 adapted to be connected to a suitable conventional electrical power source. The schematic of FIG- URE 5 is not intended to illustrate the actual closed and open conditions of the various switches of the control 62 but merely represents the operational conditions of the disposer 11 as illustrated. Thus, as shown in FIGURE 5, at the initiation of an operation of the disposer, indicated by step No. 0, the burner 22, the blower motor 25, the air valve 53 and the DC current supply converter 50 are each energized. The blower motor is preferably a twospeed motor and as shown in FIGURE 5 at this time is energized to operate at a low speed. After a preselected short period of time, the control 62 steps to the next step No. 1 wherein the burner 22 continues to be energized, the blower motor 25 switches over to its high speed operation, the valve 53 returns to a closed condition, the direct current converter 50 is deenergized and the pump motor 36 becomes energized. Thus, during this step, the burner 22 and blower motor 25 are arranged for high speed incineration of refuse placed in the combustion chamber 15. The valve 39 remains closed at this time to permit the pump to circulate the solution S and thoroughly mix entrained salts in the liquid.

In the next step No. 2, the valve 39 is energized to move the valve member 42 to close the conduit 40 and thus permit the pump 35 to withdraw solution S through the conduit 37 and discharge it outwardly through conduits 38 and 41 to a suitable drain (not shown). During the final portion of step 2, valve 44 becomes energized to provide a quantity of fresh water from supply line 43 to rinse the tank 30 during the final draining thereof.

In the next step No. 3, valve 48 is energized to deliver a quantity of concentrate C through conduit 47 into the tank 30, the pump motor 36 now being deenergized to prevent further draining from the tank. After delivery of the concentrate is completed, valve 44 again opens to provide fresh water to the tank from supply line 43 to form a fresh batch of solution S. The valve 44 remains open until the midportion of the next cycle, step No. 4, to complete the forming of the new batch of solution S. Valve 44 is then deenergized and valve 53 opens to permit air to pass from supply line 52 upwardly through the conduits 54 through the bottom of the tank and upwardly through the solution S. At the same time, converter is energized to provide a direct current voltage to the cathode 33 and anode 49. The burner 22 and blower motor 25 are maintained energized as in step 1 for a preselected 4 period during which valve 53 and converter 50 also remain energized.

Upon completion of the incineration operation, burner 22 is deenergized as indicated at step 14. Blower motor 25 remains energized to drive the blower at high speed thereby cooling the metal refuse M. This condition continues for approximately four steps until at step 18 the gear motor 57 is energized to swing the door 55 rearwardly and the grate 17 upwardly, as shown in FIGURE 3, thereby to deliver the metal refuse M from the grate into the solution S in tank 39. During this delivery, valve 53 and converter 50 are deenergized and the blower motor is returned to the low speed operation.

After the metal refuse M is delivered into the tank, the valve 53 and the converter 50 are again energized to effect the decomposing operation while the gear motor 57 is deenergized to restore the grate to the horizontal position and the door 55 to the closed position of FIGURE 1. As shown, the anode 49 is disposed above the level of the solution S in the tank and thus the circuit is completed between the cathode 33 and the anode 49 only whenthere are sufiicient cans in the tank to have the uppermost cans rest against the anode 49 as shown in FIGURE 3. The electrolytic and chemical decomposition of the metal refuse is quickly effected with the aeration of the solution S effected by the delivery of air through the conduits 54 facilitating the oxidation. In the illustrated embodiment, the metal refuse may comprise conventional ferrous and aluminum cans, and the solution may comprise salt solution. It has been found that the provision of the air effectively completes the oxidation by changing the ferrous hydroxide produced by the partial oxidation of the ferrous metal refuse to magnetite, Fe O and hematite, Fe O Aluminum can refuse may be readily decomposed to aluminum oxide, A1 0 as gelatinous precipitate. It Was found that substantially no build-up of oxide coating on the aluminum occurs thereby permitting relatively unimpeded electrolytic corrosion decomposition.

It is preferable that the incineration cycle be continued until substantially all organic matter such as resin and paper is removed from the metal refuse, before delivering the metal refuse to the decomposition tank 30. Thus, the incinerator 10 provides improved decomposition of the metal refuse by completely removing combustible material from the metal refuse before the delivery thereof into the decomposing bath permitting all portions of the metal refuse to be contacted by the solution S. Thus, except for the periodical removal of the agents from the collecting ash drawer, the refuse R is substantially completely and automatically removed either as products of combustion to the atmosphere or as dissolved salts through the drain 41. The apparatus is extremely simple and. economical of construction, while yet providing the improved functioning discussed above.

While I have shown and described one embodiment of my invention, it is to be understood that it is capable of many modifications. Changes, therefore, in the construction and arrangement may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims.

The embodiment of the invention in which an exclusive property or privilege is claimed is defined as follows:

1. A'disposer for refuse containing a combustible portion that will support combustion in air and a metal portion, comprising: means for incinerating said combustible portion of the refuse in air to cause the metal portion thereof to be substantially free of combustible material; electrolysis means for decomposing the metal portion of the refuse; and means for delivering the metal refuse from said incinerating means to said decomposing means substantially only upon completion of incineration of the combustible portion of the refuse.

2. The disposer of claim 1 wherein said decomposing means comprises a bath of aqueous salt solution.

3. The disposer of claim 1 wherein the decomposing means comprises a fluid bath in which the metal refuse is decomposed and said disposer further includes means for removing the fluid bath and decomposed metal refuse therein from the disposer.

4. The disposer of claim 1 wherein said decomposing means includes means for subjecting the metal refuse to a bath containing decomposing chemicals and further including means for storing chemicals for making seriatim a number of such baths for successive disposing of a plurality of quantities of refuse.

5. The disposer of claim 1 further including means for separating from the refuse in the incinerating means ash material resulting from the incineration of the combustible material and means for removing the separated ash material from the incinerating means.

6. The disposer of claim 1 including a housing having an opening, said incinerating means defining a combustion chamber in said housing for receiving refuse through said opening, said decomposing means being disposed Within said housing below the level of said combustion chamber, and said disposer includes means for causing the metal refuse to fall downwardly from the combustion chamber into said decomposing means.

7. The disposer of claim 6 wherein said last-named means comprises a grate at the bottom of the combustion chamber and means for tilting said grate selectively to cause the metal refuse to be dumped into said decomposing means.

8. The disposer of claim 7 further including movable Wall means for precluding passage of refuse from said combustion chamber to said decomposing means during incineration of the refuse.

9. The disposer of claim 1 wherein the decomposing means includes a tank for receiving the metal refuse and arranged to contain a quantity of decomposing solution, said disposer further including means for providing seriatim fresh quantities of the decomposing solution and removing from the tank spent solution.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS JAMES W. WESTHAVER, Primary Examiner. 

